HIV Is Declining More Slowly Among Foreign-Born Black Women

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HIV diagnoses are declining more rapidly for Black women born in the United States compared with their foreign-born peers, Specialty Pharmacy Times reports.

Publishing their findings in the American Journal of Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers analyzed annual HIV diagnosis data from the National HIV Surveillance System between 2008 and 2016.

During this period, there were 10,531 HIV diagnoses among white women and 39,333 among Black women. Four percent of the white women were foreign-born, compared with 21.4 percent of the Black women. Among the foreign-born Black women, 61.9 percent were born in Africa and 33.9 percent were born in the Caribbean.

Between 2008 and 2016, the HIV annual diagnosis rate per 100,000 people declined for white women from 1.7 to 1.1 diagnoses and declined for Black women from 42.7 to 20.4 diagnoses. Among both white and Black women, the annual diagnosis rate declined for both United States– and foreign-born women; the largest decline was among United States–born Black women, from 39.8 to 15.8 diagnoses per 100,000 people, while the diagnosis rate among foreign-born Black women declined from 67.5 to 54.4 diagnoses per 100,000 people.

“Differences in disparities in HIV diagnoses exist between U.S.-, and non–U.S.-born (specifically Caribbean- and Africa-born) Black women,” concluded the study authors. “Accounting for the heterogeneity of the Black women’s population is crucial in measuring and monitoring progress toward eliminating health disparities among Black women.”